Robin D.

Laws

Mad Scientists
Anonymous
Michelle Nephew

Nutshell Characters
The struggling members of a support group for The main characters are the members of Mad
recovering mad scientists discover that relapse is Scientists Anonymous, a support group for
only an accidental cackle away. recovering mad scientists, their loved ones,
and the people who run the program. Roles the
Starting Questions players might adopt for their characters include:
After introducing the Nutshell, but before
generating characters, invite the group to reach
consensus on a few basic questions of plot and style: bumbling gadgeteer chronologically displaced
Is our tone spoofy and knowing, like Dr. insane computer scientist despot
Horribles Sing-Along Blog, or a dark reluctant mad scientist serial killer
and serious exploration of pulp tropes? supervillain costumed burglar
Have the patients committed terrible former Nazi scientist ousted dictator
crimes or are they simply worried that amnesiac researcher robot acquiring human traits
they might in the future? crippled genius head of security
(If the former is true) Have they therapist staff nurse or doctor
been caught and brought to justice? henchman evil billionaire
If so, have they been pardoned for relative or loved one of a PC embittered mutant
some reason? Or is the facility a patient gang honcho
prison, at which theyre undergoing infiltrator (spy, journalist, recovering brainwashing
experimental rehab treatment? This unrepentant villain) victim
last answer gives you a series resembling inactive crime-fighter acting rogue super-spy
a genre version of Oz. as program monitor former hit man
What pulp tropes pertain? Is this a crazy police liaison banished ninja
comic book world populated not only by program administrator superhero turned madman
mad scientists but by robots, mutants, stranded alien working stiff staffera
sorcerers, and gods? Is it a low-power
super-world world, where only mad
science powers come into play and all Setting
other costumed characters are just highly The groups first meeting is in a nondescript
trained people in outlandish outfits? Or conference room at BelleVista, a high-priced
is it an Ian Fleming-like spy world, with private institution for the criminally insane
megalomaniacal, gimmicky villains in an where some of the characters are patients, while
otherwise realistic context? others are in the outpatient program or just
Allow these answers to shape the sorts of visiting loved ones. Though the office chairs
characters players choose to portray and to are arranged in the circle that is thought of as
modify, where necessary, material appearing typical for a group therapy session, they are all
later in this pitch.

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Hillfolk Series Pitches

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plush leather executive models. A conference
table is pushed to the side for use in case therapy
evolves into nefarious scheming.
Or is this a prison instead? If so, is it
privately run by government contractors? A
top-secret installation run by a spy agency
or Homeland Security? Or a standard issue
institution, with all the corruption, strained
budgeting, and potential for error that
implies? Either way, it doubtless carries a more
intimidating name than BelleVista.
Later field trips let the group loose in the
major metropolis where BelleVista is located;
this could be a real-world city like New York, or
something fictional like Megalopolis. Beyond
that is the entire world where the characters may
eventually run amok.
Or have the patient characters committed
acts so heinous they will never be let out
again, and must act on the outside world
through proxies? Certain of the above-listed
character types only work in this variant; no
one will let a convicted serial killer go on field
trips to Times Square.
Somehow the patients retain access to lab
equipment and the other accoutrements of their
research. Have the patients installed a secret
base beneath BelleVista?
Underneath it all is the possibility of
supernatural strangeness. As the characters get
in touch with their inner mad scientists, they
might develop psionic abilities or invent nigh-
impossible technological gadgets. These inevitably
end up causing more trouble than they solve, no
matter what the inventors intentions.
How widely known is the worlds
strangeness? Does the average person know
that he lives in a world populated by geniuses
and superhumans? If so, the characters might
be infamous and highly recognizableor at
least recognized as members of a common
type. Or have a few strange incidents been
kept out of the press by the authorities? In
this instance, anything crazy they get up to
carries the potential to explode in the news,
changing everything.
Do organizations from our real world take
the lead in dealing with weird science threats?
If so, they likely field special departments for
this purpose.
FBI: Disruptive Technology Directorate (DTD)
Robin D. Laws
CIA: Emerging Threat Center, National
Clandestine Service
Department of Homeland Security:
Science and Technology Directorate, Y Division
(Create local equivalents for a series set
outside the United States.)
Or do super organizations counter
super threats?
CODEX: US super agency, staffed by highly
trained agents, sane super-scientists, and
(depending on your chosen reality level)
costumed crimefighters.
UNACET (United Nations Agency for the
Containment of Emerging Threats): CODEXs
global equivalent.
Do these agencies battle highly organized
non-state conspiracies?
GORGON: This alliance of supervillains traces
its origins to the Cold War but now specializes
in large-scale extortion threats and dreams
of global conquest. Maintains bases run by
outlandishly uniformed personnel.
SN-9: Shadowy new group dedicated to
nihilistic destruction.
Set-up
Game Changer: The GM calls an ensemble
scene introducing a new character to the
mix. Depending on the players chosen cast,
this might be a PC, inmate, or patient, whose
relationships still make sense if he is only now
signing on. If no one meets this criterion, the
new addition is a supporting character who
threatens to throw the established hierarchy of
BelleVista into chaos:
a new administrator with a martinets
manner, who promises to straighten
things up around here
a new patient who declares his intentions
to make this place his new base of
operations, and its patients and staff his
witless minions
Themes
Episode themes you might expect the
participants to invoke might include:
Trappings: Are mad scientist stereotypes
like lab coats, goggles, wild hair, fake European
accents, and technobabble really necessary, or
just hiding the true genius underneath?
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Hillfolk Series Pitches
Progress: Mad scientists excuse their
more amoral actions by claiming any
lengths are worth it in the pursuit of
Science. Do ethics just get in the way of
scientific progress?
Breaking the Cycle: Pursuing science
can be seen as a disease, either passed
down through the generations or from
one master to his henchman to the next.
How do you break the cycle?
Accidentally Evil: You might just want to
conduct your scientific experimentation
in peace, but what do you do when your
corrupt corporate master keeps using your
inventions for evil purposes?
Slowly I Turn: Resorting to theft to get
funding for your research, kidnapping
unwilling test subjects, making deadly
weaponry just because you can. How far
down the path to supervillainy have the
characters come already? How far are they
willing to go?
Crossing Boundaries: Are there some
boundaries that shouldnt be crossed?
What are the consequences when you do?
Isolation: Separating yourself from the
rest of humanity is a great way to get work
done without pesky interruptions, like
mobs with pitchforks. But what does it do
to your social life?
Humanity, and Other Petty Worries:
We all have to make sacrifices for our
work. But how much is too much? A few
people? The worlds entire population?
Unintended Consequences: What
do you do when your invention is too
successful and goes out of control?
Who Watches the Watchers? What
happens when your madness rubs off on
the people assigned to cure you?
Tightening the Screws
Initial sessions take place in the setting of the
institution, during group therapy meetings:
The characters try to complete a 12-step
program to recovery, only to find that
every time they attempt to make amends
things go horribly wrong.
One of the characters has a beautiful
daughter whos tired of being kidnapped
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by villains and hit on by heroes. She
comes to a therapy session to tell her
side of the story, only to turn into a
rampaging monster as the side effects
of close proximity to the characters
last experimental device finally reveal
themselves. How do the characters
deal with the emotional fallout of her
transformation?
One of the institutions patients claims
he sold his soul to the devil in trade
for superhuman abilities. Hes happy to
introduce the characters, if theyre willing
to pay the price for power (which is
personalized for each of them). Can this
be for real, or is the patient delusional as
well as mad? Or more likely, is this a test
set up by their therapist?
A patient invents a prototype psionic
enhancement device. Will the characters
submit to being his first test subjects and
risk horrible side effects in exchange for
ultimate mental superiority over the rest
of humanity?
A characters henchman tries to break him
out of the institution, with a do-gooder
hero hot on his heels.
The characters have proven themselves to
be less insane than most of the patients at
the institution, and so are offered a chance
to move to the outpatient program if they
can convince the equivalent of a parole
board of their recovery.
If the characters maintain their lab in
secret from their keepers, it is threatened
with discovery.
A staffer the group all like is kidnapped.
Is the perpetrator trying to strike back at
the inmates?
Later, the characters may move out into
the city, and then the world at large:
An outing to the citys science museum
turns into a test of will, as each character
faces an exhibit that could further his own
personal pursuit of world domination.
One of the outpatients at the institution
is only accidentally evil; hes a mild-
mannered researcher, whose corrupt boss
continually promises to use his inventions
only for good, then doesnt. When he goes
 Robin D. Laws

missing and his latest discovery goes out
of control making the nightly news, will
the characters save him or join him?
One of the characters discovers that
his secret underground lair, which was
supposedly destroyed when he was
apprehended, is still in one piece under all
the rubble. With access to full laboratories
and equipment again, or perhaps a
powerful tech item recovered there, will
the characters relapse?

Names

To create a mad scientist name, take a typically German first name and combine it with that of a famous real-world or fictional
scientist. Then add the honorific Dr. at the front, of course.

Male First Names (Inmates) Female First Names (Inmates)

Claus Igor Adelaide Lorelei

Dieter Otto Ava Mariel
Emmett Rudolf Bernadette Millicent
Ernest Ulrich Chloris Selma
Franz Verner Ernestine Vala
Fritz Wendell Gertrude Wilma
Heinrich Wilfred Greta Zelma
Helmut Helga

Fictional Last Names Real-World Last Names

Beakman Maldoror Bohr Maxwell

Beckett Mephisto Dyson Mendeleev
Bishop Moreau Einstein Oppenheimer
Faust Nemo Fermi Planck
Frankenstein van Helsing Feynman Rutherford
Hyde Hawking Schrodinger
Luthor Heisenberg von Helmholtz
Borrow other comic book-style villain names from Henchmen (p. 144). Huygens

Staffers and Ordinary People

Ken Bernstein Debra Whitesell Tracy Taylor

Daniela Gomez J.R. Zisk Graham Melvoin
Tucker Martin Erica Trilling Carole Arkin
Maryann Tobin Jesse Gates Kristof Bell
Harry Libman Vanessa Lang Arabella Divoff
Guy Kinney Alex Winer Jim Grant
Alison Dark Andi Brandon Greta Crooke
Kevin Winters Drew Hooks Ellis Means
Crystal Nayar Jennifer Nemec Scott Parker
Nelson Jablonski Jeff Schapker Paula Comperatore

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